Technology your whole family can enjoy
There are many safe options besides Facebook, YouTube for kids to watch and play
Technology can’t babysit your kids, no matter how much we really wish it could.
With recent reports of disturbing videos aimed at young kids — featuring nursery rhymes and characters such as Peppa Pig — that manage to sneak past content filters on YouTube, it’s once again clear the internet is no place to let children just go play by themselves.
The streaming video giant has taken action and suspended channels, deleted videos and reprimanded creators in order to convince people it is a safe place to park your kids. This week the company announced it is hiring 10,000 moderators to combat the problem, which we would call a good start. We’ll have to see it in action to see if it makes any real difference.
Facebook’s recently announced Messenger Kids, a chat app aimed at users between the ages of 6 and 13, seems like another garbage fire ready to erupt. The app has no ads and it is tied to the account of a parent, who has to approve their kid’s chat buddies. Still, it’s already raising plenty of alarm for trying to hook children onto Facebook and phones at a formative age. So far, thankfully, it’s only available in the U.S.
The real lesson here is that you can’t trust any technology company to take care of your kids. Which means, if you want them to engage in technology, you should try enjoying it along with them.
The good news is, in this holiday season, some of the biggest names in technology are actually putting a focus back on the family. Since I had to grab the iPad with the YouTube Kids app away from my 6-year-old and actually commit to some active parenting, here’s a run-through of some of this season’s hottest technology and how you can share that experience with the family. Video alternatives Despite its flaws, YouTube remains one of the best time sucks ever created. If you want your kids to safely use the site, create a playlist of acceptable videos that you have already vetted for them to see. Beyond that, there are plenty of other options. Netflix’s Kids section is quite robust and since the content is all professionally produced, it should be safe from the “troll farmed” fakes. Another service, Jellies, is a video app that promises only safe, kid-friendly material for $5 a month. The Big N If there is one tech company that could give a lesson on how to be family friendly, it is Nintendo. The company has been resurgent this year, after launching its hybrid home/portable game console the Switch with a host of hot titles.
The biggest knock on the Switch is that it is expensive, starting at $399, adding up to more if you buy accessories, such as extra controllers. Beyond that, the library so far has been quite good. For families, there are a number of good games such as 1-2 Switch, Snipperclips and MarioKart 8 Deluxe. The recently released Super Mario Odyssey is a masterpiece and even has two-player mode where one player controls Mario and the other plays as his sentient hat, Cappy.
If the Switch is too rich for your blood, the SNES Classic also launched this year, with 21 classic games, a $100 price tag and nostalgia to burn. Co-pilot mode While Microsoft has been making a lot of hay about how powerful the latest Xbox is, it’s this neat feature in one of the recent system updates that might help bring gamers and wannabes together. The update allows two controllers that can control the same action onscreen, so a more experienced gamer can help out a novice player.
For example, Microsoft has released Super Lucky’s Tale, a fun platforming game featuring a fox jumping through worlds. Playing with my kid, whose hands can barely get around the controller, I can tell her to focus on the left thumb stick, which controls movement, while I can handle the right thumb stick, which in most games controls the camera. The mode is also good to occasionally save her from certain video game death. Sony gets phone-y The complexity of controllers is absolutely a big barrier for new gamers, young and old, which might explain why Sony has announced a miniwired gamepad for PS4, available this holiday season, to help bring younger players to the party.
Sony has also introduced a new series of games under the PlayLink banner, which use smartphones as controllers. The games are generally cheaper than hardcore games, require you to download apps onto the phones and offer more group friendly experiences. There’s SingStar Celebration, a karaoke-type of game. Knowledge is Power is a trivia game with cute characters that represent players. That’s You is a similar question/answer type game, but the queries are focused on the people in the room. There is also Hidden Agenda, a hide-and-seek puzzler, and Frantics, a silly minigame collection coming next year. With a group of friends or family, these games can be a blast. For the music maestros Smart speakers are going to be one of the hottest holiday gifts, with Google Home speakers going on sale in anticipation of Amazon Alexa’s recent arrival in Canada. Don’t expect amazing results out of either of them — they are about as good as the assistant on your phone for most queries.
But both of these speakers offer some games and activities for kids. Alexa has “skills,” the name for activities it can do, while Google Home has 50 activities and minigames for youngsters, although the majority have yet to make their way to Canada. One that is here is a Mickey Mouse choose-your-adventure type game, where he tells a story and the young listener is expected to respond. It’s fun, although after my daughter played through it once, she started talking incessantly to me again — so was it really that effective?